Katashina Monkey Festival

Katashina no Saru Matsuri: The Monkey Festival Where Red Rice Flies and the Monkey Is Chased

On the day of the Monkey in the ninth lunar month, a man in white robes leaps from the sanctuary of a small shrine in the mountains of northern Gunma and runs. Two sets of villagers chase him barefoot around the shrine buildings, three full circuits, while nearby people stand divided into an east side and a west side and fling steamed red rice at one another with wooden paddles, calling out set words as the grains scatter. This is the rite that the national government recorded under the name Katashina no Saru Matsuri, the "Monkey Festival of Katashina," held at the Hotaka Shrine in the hamlet of Hanasaku.

The festival is unusual enough that locals call it a kisai, an "odd festival." The white-robed runner plays the monkey, and the scattered rice is meant for him. To understand why a farming community would spend an autumn day feeding and then driving away a monkey, it helps to start with the mountain that looms over the village.

A festival on the northern foot of Mt. Hotaka

Katashina Village sits in Tone District at the far northern edge of Gunma Prefecture, in the highlands that form the gateway to the Oze wetlands. Above it rises Mt. Hotaka, written with characters (武尊) that also belong to the legendary prince Yamato Takeru. The shrine at the center of the festival, Hotaka Shrine, was once the guardian shrine for the surrounding district and serves as the head of the local network of Hotaka shrines.

The event takes place in Hanasaku, a settlement within the village. Its date follows the old lunar calendar rather than the modern one, falling on the day of the Monkey in the middle of the ninth lunar month, which in practice lands in autumn. Because the date shifts from year to year and the rite belongs to the community rather than to a tourism schedule, anyone hoping to see it should confirm the day in advance with the village or its board of education.

People in Hanasaku trace the festival back roughly three centuries. The present Hotaka Shrine took its current form in 1908, when three older shrines in the area were merged into it, but the rite itself is far older than that administrative change.

Two names, one tradition, and why it is protected

The festival carries two official names, and the difference matters. In 1978 the Agency for Cultural Affairs selected it as a folk cultural property requiring documentation, under the name Katashina no Saru Matsuri. That category is a national flag placed on customs judged important enough to record carefully before they fade. The detailed survey was later published as a government record volume in 2007.

On December 27, 2000, the same living tradition at Hanasaku was raised to the higher rank of Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, this time under the name Katashina no Saru-oi Matsuri, the "Monkey-Chasing Festival of Katashina." Its custodian is the Saru-oi Matsuri Preservation Society. So a visitor will hear both "Saru Matsuri" and "Saru-oi Matsuri" for what is essentially the same event, with the latter name attached to the formal 2000 designation.

What earned the designation is the structure behind the spectacle. The festival is run by a miyaza, a hereditary parish guild that organizes worship, and surviving examples of this old system are scarce in eastern Japan. The community of Hanasaku splits into an east group and a west group, and roles rotate among the households. The rite also keeps archaic features that have disappeared elsewhere, including the rice-throwing and the figure of a monkey who carries a Shinto wand of folded paper streamers.

The legend of the white monkey

According to local tradition, a large monkey with white fur once lived in a cave on Mt. Hotaka. It came down to the villages, harmed the people, and spoiled their crops. The deity of Hotaka drove it off, and from that deliverance the festival is said to have grown. A second version told in the village holds that the year the monkey was chased away brought an unusually good harvest, and that the rite repeats that lucky outcome each autumn.

Both readings sit inside the same logic. The scattered red rice is an offering to the monkey, a way of saying that the creature has been given plenty so it need not return to the fields. The chase that closes the festival reenacts the original expulsion. Gratitude for the harvest and the warding off of damage are folded into a single performance.

What to watch for on the day

The cast is built from two rotating duties drawn from the village hamlets. The Hitsuban, the "chest keepers," cook the red rice, pack it into wooden chests, and carry it to the shrine. The Sakaban, the "sake keepers," prepare the ritual drink once made as unrefined doburoku or sweet amazake for the banquet.

The throwing of the red rice is the part most people remember. The east and west sides face off, and as the rice flies from their paddles the east Hitsuban shouts a call read as "Eichō" while the west answers with "Mōchō." The exchange is loud and deliberate, equal parts thanksgiving and bargaining with the monkey. After the rice settles, the participants move inside to share sake, and chanters perform passages from the Noh repertoire: Takasago, Shikainami, and Senshūraku, pieces associated with celebration and long life.

Then comes the chase. A performer dressed as a white monkey springs out and circles the shrine buildings three times, pursued by the Hitsuban and Sakaban. It is brief, and it is the moment everything else has been leading toward. Stand where you can see the run rather than only the rice, and the shape of the whole day clicks into place.

Around Katashina

The village is best known as one of the main approaches to Oze, a high marsh straddling the borders of Gunma, Fukushima, and Niigata that is famous for its boardwalk trails, skunk cabbage in spring, and golden grasses in autumn. The surrounding mountains, including Mt. Hotaka and the lakes of Marunuma and Sugenuma, give Katashina a long outdoor season that runs from hiking and waterfalls in the warm months to skiing in winter, with hot springs scattered throughout.

Because the festival falls in autumn, a visit can be paired with the season when the highlands turn color. Public transport into this part of Gunma is limited, so most visitors arrive by car; checking local bus timetables ahead of time is wise for anyone without one.